Test discard Hasan Raza bludgeoned a forceful 188 as Habib Bank Limited (HBL) ended day three of their Pentangular Cup 2007 match against the combined North West Frontier Province-Baluchistan team at the NBP Sports Complex, Karachi, in a commanding position.Starting the day 79 runs ahead of their opponents, HBL did not have the best of starts as they lost their first two wickets for only 26 runs. However, first Imran Farhat (66) and Sulaman Qadir shared a 101-run third wicket partnership and then Qadir and Hasan dispatched the NWFP-Baluchistan bowlers to all parts of the ground in their mammoth 237-run stand. Qadir was finally dismissed by Nasir Jalil for 125 but Humayun Farhat scored 41 to enable HBL to march towards the 500-mark.HBL finished the day on 498 for the loss of eight wickets, a total lead of 577 and with a whole day’s play remaining, victory is surely in sight. For the combined side, Jalil picked up three wickets while Arun Lal and Mohammad Fayyaz grabbed a brace each.Sind suffered a usual batting collapse in their second innings but still have a chance to register their first win of the tournament against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at the National Stadium, Karachi.At the close of day three, KRL required a further 275 with six second innings wickets remaining. Mohammad Wasim, KRL captain, was unbeaten on 16 while Usman Saeed had made 11 as these two rescued their side from 37 for four.Earlier, after grabbing KRL’s last five wickets for only 16 runs, Sind looked all set to add to their 170-runs first innings lead. However, barring Fahad Iqbal (57), the whole side failed to stamp authority as the innings wrapped up for only 165. Mohammad Irshad added four wickets to his tally while Saeed Ajmal, Shehzad Butt and even skipper Mohammad Wasim captured two wickets each.
The injury-plagued New Zealand squad got one small piece of good news when Nathan Astle confirmed that the bone chips in his right knee weren’t serious enough for him to miss the second Test against South Africa, which starts on Thursday at Newlands, Cape Town. However, just to balance out the positive news, Hamish Marshall has been ruled out of the match with a rib injury.”It just niggly,” Astle told NZPA. “I’ve had an x-ray, there’s a couple of little bone spurs but there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s good enough to play on.” Astle made just 4 and 2 in New Zealand’s 128-run defeat in the first Test, but was optimistic that the team could bounce back. “I think we’re going to have three result-orientated wickets, the series is still alive.”Marshall, though, hasn’t recovered enough from the blows he took from Makhaya Ntini during the first Test. “Hamish won’t be available for the match, his ribs just haven’t improved enough,” the New Zealand coach John Bracewell told a news conference in Cape Town. “He’s a bit like that character from ‘The Fugitive’, that one-armed man everybody was looking for.”Either Jamie How or Michael Papps is likely to step up into the team, which has also endured the news that Shane Bond will miss the rest of the tour. James Franklin, the third player battling . knee problems (fluid in his left knee joint), had light practice sessions at Newlands on Monday.Meanwhile, the pitch for the Test is likely to be more batsman-friendly than it was when Australia played South Africa last month. That match finished in three days as South Africa’s master plan to nullify Shane Warne’s threat by watering the pitch backfired badly with Stuart Clark taking 9 for 89.According to Bracewell the track will offer some variable bounce and help Vettori. “The wicket is reasonably bare at the ends,” he told NZPA. “We’ve been told while it won’t spin a great deal there will be bounce for spinners. Dan [Vettori] will be licking his lips at that opportunity.”Christo Erasmus, the Newlands groundsman, said that the challenge had been to produce a good pitch despite all the rain and the onset of winter. “It’s the latest we’ve had a match at Newlands in my time here,” he said. “There has been a lot of rain around. Although we are still having warm days it is taking longer for the ground to dry out.”
Graham Thorpe spent some welcome time in the middle as Surrey overcame a spirted Scotland effort at The Grange. Thorpe hit 69 from 89 balls as Surrey reached their target of 253 with 6.3 overs left.But Scotland made them work harder than that. Jonathan Beukes, their South African batsman, blasted 91 from 86 balls as Scotland racked up their highest score of the season. Colin Smith added 41 from 42 deliveries and when Surrey slumped to 90 for 3 an upset was on the cards.However, Scotland’s bowlers had no answer to Thorpe’s experience and Alistair Brown’s power. Brown smashed 65 from 45 balls with seven fours and four sixes as Surrey, ultimately, cruised home.
In the end, Australia’s 279 for 7 proved too strong for a battling Zimbabwean team, who were led by Grant Flower’s valiant 94. But Ricky Ponting had expected a different story when he opted to bat first. Although Ponting and Michael Bevan both scored half-centuries, the Australians’ propensity to dominate got the better of them. Had it not been for an unnaturally obsessive tendency to pulverise their opponents, they might have ended up with a larger total.Damien Martyn, promoted to open, spent four and a half overs miscuing his shots, as he realised the wicket wasn’t exactly a shirt-front. He eventually found a semblance of his elusive form in an aesthetically perfect cut shot. But he failed to keep it down, and Dion Ebrahim at point made an easy catch look amazing (25 for 1). Ponting came out and wrote a how-to of square-drives, lofted cover-drives, and on-drives. Taking the pitch out of the equation by adjusting the timing of his swing, he made fielders redundant. Zimbabwe’s bowlers, not exactly life-threatening, found him sashaying down the wicket and tonking the ball wherever he felt like. He soon reached his fifty off 47 balls. Meanwhile, Matthew Hayden goaded the Zimbabwe bowlers on with ill-advised strokes, until luck ran out on him, and he cut a delivery straight to Ebrahim at point (84 for 2).A while later, Ponting (63) walked back after a misunderstanding with Bevan left him short of his crease (128 for 3). Out came Michael Clarke, who kept the runs coming with graceful strokes placed between the fielders. While Clarke was in control, Bevan didn’t play convincingly, and still managed 75. Both ran with whippet-like urgency, infuriating the Zimbabwe fielders with quick singles, and cut, nudged, and pushed, to keep the score on the move. In the rush for runs, both batsmen eventually fell; Clarke (36), to a needless run-out, and Bevan, when he miscued Douglas Hondo. Andrew Symonds squeezed 34 runs from 30 balls, but was dismissed in the last over. Everyone else scampered for quick runs, and Australia got to 279.Tatenda Taibu and Grant Flower opened for Zimbabwe, and had problems getting the ball off the square. They took their time to get going, but once they did, they scored at two-and-a-half an over. While Taibu was struggling to touch the ball with his bat, the seagulls on the outfield became the main topic of discussion. Then, Brad Williams, bowling menacingly, cheered up the spectators by bowling Taibu for 9 in the 10th over.Travis Friend and Stuart Carlisle played, missed, and were thoroughly unconvincing in their brief stay while Brett Lee and Williams were bowling, and fell without doing much (90 for 3). But Flower was in a league of his own. After crawling to 29, he initiated a burst of activity that resulted in several boundaries, scowling bowlers, and a quick fifty. Williams was cover-driven with power, and though edges were induced, they travelled for four.With Sean Ervine for company, he gradually mounted a challenge. Ervine scampered most of his 33 runs, except for a huge blow over midwicket, and Flower stayed put, cutting out the risks. But when Ervine attempted another six, he found Lee on the boundary’s edge (159 for 4). The next over, Flower nicked Gillespie to the keeper, pretty much ending the fightback. Streak and Andy Blignaut then scored 59 runs in 54 balls between them, and got Zimbabwe close, but in truth, the contest had been over for a while.
Terry Blake has decided to leave the England and Wales Cricket Board in the early part of next year.During his 13 years as TCCB’s Marketing Manager and then ECB’s Commercial Director, revenue rose from £10m per annum in 1989 to more than £60m budgeted for 2003.Terry Blake said: “I have enjoyed my time at the Board and in particular being part of the team that developed the platform for the formation of the ECB and its National Strategy. I now intend to pursue other aims and ambitions in sports marketing and media.”Tim Lamb, ECB Chief Executive, said: “We’ll be sorry to lose someone of Terry’s calibre, integrity and experience. He has been largely responsible for the commercial success of ECB, particularly in the fields of television and sponsorship. We wish him every success in the future.”
Saeed Anwar set the tone in the opening over, pulling Gough imperiously through mid-wicket for a boundary. Gough, frustrated, pitched short and saw Afridi’s top edge fly over the `keeper’s head for another four.Mullally started well, however, and beat the bat several times. It could also have been a run-out in the first over as Afridi just beat a direct hit on the stumps. In Mullally’s next over Afridi, clearly in no mood to be dictated to, thrashed him through the covers off the back foot and followed it with a drive on the up, both for four.But Mullally answered with a maiden and it was no surprise when the impatience brought his downfall. An enormous heave off a full-length Mullally delivery skied the ball high in the air but no further than Mark Ealham at mid on who took a comfortable catch and ended the all-rounder’s 24-ball stay.Abdur Razzaq was the new man and he never really settled. Mullaly beat him with a beauty, jagging away off the seam, in the 10th over but he responded with a pull for four off Gough who was removed from the attack after six overs for 25 runs. Ealham, whose slower pace has proved difficult to get away, replaced himAnwar, content to find the gaps with ones and twos and running well between the wickets, was cast in the role of anchorman. It was his pushed drive through mid off that brought up the 50 in the 14th over, a landmark he celebrated with a flicked four off is legs. It took a fine piece of fielding to bring about the second wicket. A delicate cut from Anwar, just backward of point, was cut off by a swooping Ben Hollioake who threw down the stumps to leave Razzaq inches short; 55-2 and the arrival of Inzamam-ul-Haq.Dominic Cork replaced Mullally (7-1-26-1) at the Pavilion End and began with a huge appeal for lbw against Inzamam. Cork has been content to trade blows with the batsmen, passing the outside edge of both Inzamam and Saeed in between being driven through the covers and pulled to square leg, and has conceded successive legside wides in stark contrast to the miserly Ealham.A flicked six into the Eric Hollies Stand from Saeed followed by a controlled edge for four through fine third man signalled a change of gear, however, and Ealham was removed from the attack after six overs for 23 runs.In the 24th over, Cork, following through and attempting to kick the ball on to the stumps, gave Inzamam a little push out of the way. This infuriated Inzamam and Stewart had to stand between the two and apply admirable levels of diplomacy. It clearly worked as batsman and bowler shook hands after the next delivery.The off spin of Vaughan came into the attack in the 25th over. He was immediately smashed for successive fours by Inzamam, the first to bring up the 100, the second a fearful long hop. The score at 25 overs is 108-2.
Brenden Aaronson is keen on a move to Leeds United this summer…
What’s the word?
That’s according to The Athletic’s ever-reliable reporter Phil Hay, who delivered a fresh update on the situation of the RB Salzburg midfield in a recent Q&A with supporters.
And they’ll be delighted with what he said:
“The intention is, or certainly was, to bid again for Aaronson. He’s interested in the move, he’s played under Jesse Marsch before and Salzburg are likely to be more open to bids in the summer than they were in January.”
Indeed, the Yorkshire giants failed with two bids during the winter, the latter being in excess of £20m. Meanwhile, Transfermarkt value the USMNT international in the region of £18m.
Sign him up!
When the transfer window does reopen, it’s time for director of football Victor Orta and co to push ahead with signing the 21-year-old maestro at long last.
Leeds have failed to sign a new man for the engine room for nearly four-and-a-half years now, with the last arrival being Adam Forshaw from Middlesbrough in 2018.
It’s no wonder the side have been embroiled in a relegation battle in just their second season back in the big time as they clearly haven’t strengthened enough to remain competitive.
And when you risk losing someone like Raphinha in the summer, new manager Jesse Marsch is going to need plenty of new additions to bolster the playing squad and he should look no further than a player he once managed over in Austria.
The 18-cap dynamo is a hugely talented attacking midfielder with bags of potential and could be worth every penny. He has delivered five goals and ten assists across 35 appearances this season, even delivering in the Champions League, where he ranks amongst the very best indeed.
Across the last year, Aaronson ranks amongst the top 1% of similar midfielders and attackers for pressures in the final third (10.46 per 90) and tackles in the final third (0.5 per 90), as per FBRef.
He also created a whopping five key chances against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, becoming the youngest-ever player to do so since Lionel Messi against Celtic in 2008.
It’s no wonder his manager, Matthias Jaissle, waxed lyrical about his work rate only last month.
“The special thing is, I hardly know any other No. 10 who works so much without the ball,” he said. “He always puts himself behind [on defence], he is a great team player, very hardworking and has a monster mentality.”
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Meanwhile, former USA international DeMarcus Beasley described his talents as “silky” and elsewhere, he’s been compared to Clint Dempsey, who was quite the hit in the Premier League for Fulham and Spurs.
On the above evidence, the young American would be quite the signing for Marsch and this new era in west Yorkshire, one that could really get Elland Road rocking,
Supporters will be absolutely delighted to have a player like Aaronson, capable of pressing from the front and playing for the badge each and every week. Orta and co must snap him up as their first signing this summer.
AND in other news, Marsch could finally axe shocking Bielsa favourite in summer swoop for “exceptional” 21 y/o gem…
A report in today’s Times says that the MCC is planning to spend up to £200 million on redeveloping Lord’s over the next decade. Every stand, other than the listed 1890 pavilion, the new Grandstand and Mound Stand, would be replaced.Initial plans were costed at £100 million, but these have now been expanded to include rebuilding of the Warner Stand (1958), the Compton and Edrich Stands (1991), the Tavern (1967) and the Allen Stand (1935). The changes are likely to boost the capacity to between 38,000 and 39,000, still less than half of some of the biggest grounds in the world, but still by far the largest in England. Other changes could include an underground Real Tennis court, an academy, floodlights and a hotel.The report added that leading architects were being approached, though even after their appointments, obtaining planning consent would take at least a year.Funding for the project would be raised from debentures and possibly by building apartments on the northern perimeter at the far end of the Nursery Ground. That would probably signal the end of the Nursery, which has increasingly been eroded by a series of developments, as a cricket pitch.”We do not want to create a stadium,” David Batts, who is in charge of the redevelopment, told The Times. “We have to be mindful of how many people will be able to walk around the ground during a Test match to buy food and drink. The walkways can be congested already, so we have to work out how many boxes and bars we put into the stands to enable spectators to eat in the stands, which is particularly necessary for the short Twenty20 matches.”The plans are part of the MCC’s attempt to move forward, aware that there is pressure on the ECB to take one of its two annual Tests away and award it to another venue.
Robin Peterson believes he has a major role to play in the World Cup despite his limited impact with the ball so far. Peterson hoped the success of other spinners – including Brad Hogg, Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori – in the Caribbean might be an indication that he can help South Africa reach the semi-finals.”Coming to the West Indies I thought the wickets were always going to be slow and I expect, at some stage, to have a role in the tournament and I must make sure that I am ready,” Peterson told . He has played only two of South Africa’s four World Cup matches, for figures of 0 for 43 from 11 overs.With Shaun Pollock struggling to contain top-order batsmen and South Africa’s attack dominated by fast bowlers, Peterson hoped he would be called upon more often as the tournament progressed. “I think because of the heat the role of a spinner was always there,” he said.”You can’t bowl seamers all the time and it’s also important to control the over rate, change the pace of the game, so there’s always a role for a spinner. You look to spinner to slow the run rate, just get the batsmen thinking of a certain style of bowling and as a spinner you think all the time and, if you pick up wickets, it’s a bonus.”Peterson’s bowling has been economical but unspectacular, however it is for his only World Cup innings that Peterson’s team-mates will thank him the most. When Lasith Malinga claimed four wickets from four balls to leave South Africa unexpectedly on the verge of a loss to Sri Lanka, Peterson edged a boundary to third man to ensure victory.”I’m not a hero, I was just lucky,” he said. “Obviously I’m happy that it was important to win the game and the two points came our way. The important thing was that we came out on top at the end.”South Africa face Ireland in Guyana on Tuesday, and Peterson said his team would not take the encounter lightly after almost losing to Ireland in a warm-up game. Two days later South Africa will play Bangladesh before finishing the Super Eights with a string of tough clashes against West Indies, New Zealand and England.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThe Titans recovered from the precarious overnight position of 70 for 4 to post a handy 93-run first-innings lead, but the Dolphins soon chased it down as the second day of the SuperSport Series final ended with the game intriguingly poised.Justin Kemp and Geoffrey Toyana posted a vital fifth-wicket partnership of 107 with Kemp uncharacteristically becalmed; his 50 came from 113 balls. The aggressor was Toyana who raced to his half-century from 69 balls.However, both batsmen fell while settled and it was left to Albie Morkel to play the innings of the day. He struck 15 fours and a six in his 93-ball innings to help give Titans a very useful first-innings lead. Ugasen Govender, the 22-year-old fast bowler, was the pick for the Dolphins; although expensive, he captured the key wickets of Morkel today and Martin van Jaarsveld yesterday.The Titans bowlers were unable to capitalise on the efforts of their batsmen, though, and the Dolphins calmly reached 99 without loss, trailing by just six runs.